It is not surprising that the Order of Preachers has historically been the home to men renowned and remembered for the power of their preaching.

Due to the diligent archival and transcription work of unsung scribes of ages past, some of the sermons of these great preachers have been preserved and can give us a unique way to encounter historical figures who otherwise might be reduced to a list of biographical data. In the case of the 14th century Dominican John Tauler, we have the great fortune to have a collection of eighty or so sermons on a variety of topics that are still worth reading today. Read more

The Fourteenth Century Dominican, Henry Suso, is one of a trinity of famous Dominican “Founding Fathers” of German Mysticism, a form of spirituality prevalent in German speaking lands 1250-1470. The other two “Founding Fathers” were his teacher, Meister Eckhart, and his contemporary John Tauler. Of the three, Suso is the only one to have been Beatified: Pope Gregory XVI confirmed his veneration in 1831 on account of sustained popular devotion. Who was this German mystic? What makes him different to Meister Eckhart? Is he anything more than the acceptable face of German mystical theology? Read more

Jean-Joseph Lataste was born in Cadillac, near Bordeaux, in France in 1832. After his study, he became a civil servant. While working in various cities around Bordeaux, he was an active member of the Society of Saint Vincent of Paul. However, since he was a child, Jean-Jospeh was thinking about a possible vocation to the priesthood. During his study in Bordeaux, he got to know Lacordaire and turned to him when he started to deepen his vocation to religious life. Eventually, Jean-Joseph Lataste joined the Dominican Order in 1857, some 18 years after Lacordaire, who had re-established it in post-revolutionary France.Read more

Today is the day of six stories. Stories of the lives of six men who had a lot in common. They were all Spanish. They were all Dominicans. They all lived in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were all missionaries to China, and they were all killed there between 1648 and 1748. Today is the day that we remember these six Dominican martyrs of China. Read more

Last week I was working with another brother on a new liturgical book. Facing our two computer screens with keen concentration, we were taking delight in working together on a common project. Read more

If you like Dominicans and good red wines then there are two very good reasons to visit Montepulciano. Situated on a hilltop in the Italian province of Siena, in southern Tuscany, Montepulciano is famous throughout Italy and beyond for its superb red wine, not to be confused with the inferior wine, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, which is produced from the Montepulciano grape, but which grape, confusingly, has no links with the town other than a shared name. Read more

A
native from Provence in the South of France, Robert d'Uzes was
probably born in 1263. He joined the Dominican Order thirty years
later in Avignon and travelled in France, Germany and Italy. But he
died suddenly in 1296 in Metz in Lorraine. From 1293 until his death,
he was granted revelatory graces and had visions, which he put in
writing in two books, the Book of Visions
and the Book of Word. Read more

St Albert is said to have been one of the last people to have known everything that was known in his day. That might be an exaggeration, but it’s certain that his interests and publications spanned every discipline of his time: from a best-selling work on rocks (de mineralibus), through to geometry, astronomy, friendship, law, love, language, not to mention extensive commentaries on the scriptures, it’s certainly fair to say Albert was universally learned. Read more